So we've just returned from two weeks in Tunisia, it was beyond lovely and the weather was a dream. We are truly lucky that we have such a well behaved baby, he didn't make any fuss on any journey and I can't even recall a cry from him the whole holiday. However we did know taking a baby to an all inclusive resort, is a totally different ball game to a villa or self catering, mainly because the only appliance you have in most all inclusive hotels, is a kettle, this can definitely prove difficult depending on how young your baby is, so here are some of my tips and tricks I learned along the way.
- Sterilising was my main worry, without a microwave or a steriliser I was so worried how we'd keep Noahs' bottles sterile. But with Milton tablets, we just filled the bathroom sink (or a bucket it you prefer) with boiling hot kettle water, popped in part of a Milton tablet and let his bottles sterilise for 30 minutes. It was so easy, and then they were good to go.
- Definitely over pack, for most package holidays these days, you do only get a 15/20kg luggage allowance, (10 for babies) I'd advise paying the little bit more for an extra 5kg, we did and it eased our minds so much. We knew we didn't have to worry, we had everything we need and wouldn't be charged a fortune at check in for being over the limit.
- Bring the essentials. A lot of places in Europe you probably can get standard baby brands. But as we were travelling to North Africa I didn't dare not to bring familiar brands from home. For example his Nappies, Milk & Swim nappies. I am beyond glad I did this as although you could find nappies, I didn't recognise the brand (Lilas?) and he may have reacted to them. Also baby milk was a non existent over there, I'm guessing most ladies there will Breast Feed as they often don't have disposable money for things like that. So definitely bring more than you think you would need, and the same goes for swim nappies, they were absolutely no where to be seen, again I doubt they find them necessary like we do.
- Weaning I would 110% recommend before you go away somewhere like this. Noah is on to what I'd say is lumpy food. He can eat chopped pasta, shredded meat & fish etc. So we found it relatively easy to get him food, he ate pretty much what we did just cut into small pieces. There was also bits and pieces like mash, soups etc. But it could prove difficult if your baby is only onto purées, I'd probably bring some pouches if that is the case. All inclusive are more often than not, buffet style main restaurants, so you will always find something.
- Team work is such a huge part of holidaying. We were so lucky to have our parents there too, sometimes when you both want to relax together for 30 minutes, it's handy to have someone along side to help out. I'm also fortunate John isn't much of a tanning kind of guy, he would happily sit in the shade and it worked well as obviously we didn't want Noah in the sun too much.
- Don't fret about the plane ride. I was beyond worried how Noah would react, flying at 6am meant we left our house at 2am. He was so tired on the plane outbound, but we do have a very nosey baby so he didn't sleep till the final 20 minutes. We took plenty of pre made bottles (remember for your return journey too) and took spares of everything. He was an angel on the way back too, and slept for about half of the three hour return flight.
I know First Choice & Thomson do sell 'baby packs', something I didn't realise until a couple of weeks before we were due to fly, they include steriliser, bottle warmer & a pram a believe? They may be worth a look if you are travelling with them. Travelling to an All Inclusive with a baby definitely requires a lot of thinking, and lists not to forget (soo many lists haha) but we loved every minute of it and I'm already looking up for next years. Please let me know how you got on away with a baby, and if you'd like a post on what we took for Noah.
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